Rouges1922

Oh where to start? Arcadia, I wanted you to be great. I did. I wanted you to live up to the hype. I wanted you to overwhelm me. Unfortunately you did not. In fact, you underwhelmed me. I’ll start with the good: beautiful clubhouse, nice views, good practice area, great greens.

The bad: When you tell players your expected pace of play is 4:45 you’re just inviting them to play 5:30+ hour rounds...and guess what? They do. We teed off with what should have been plenty of time to finish before sunset only to be disappointed by darkness setting in on #16. But what about rangers you ask? Non-existant, a myth. Paid $140 for 16 holes, and it was by far the worst value of our trip.

Overpriced and terrible service? Check and check. We arrived an hour before our round, thinking that we had plenty of time to check out the clubhouse, pro shop, and grab some food before heading to the first tee. We go to the pro shop, intent on buying a bag tag as a souvenir. How much? $26. You’re kidding me right Arcadia. Royal County Down, you know, the #1 course in the world, charges $20. Royal Portrush, you know, host of the 2019 Open Championship, charges $18.

So we moved on from that and said hey lets grab some hot dogs. After being scoffed at by the bartender/waiter as if we were second class citizens (which everyone who worked there seemed to be condescending and aloof aside from the guy who provided transport from the parking lot to the clubhouse) we were charged $46 for 1 hot dog and 3 brats, which is, well, insane. A half hour goes by, which by the way at this point is getting very close to our tee time, and the items that take about 10 minutes to cook are still not out. I go ask about their status and am told “they’ll be out when they’re done.” Cool, thanks,. Finally got them about 10 minutes before our tee time, had to scarf them down, and then were told we would lose our spot if we did not get to the tee on time.

Lastly, the course is okay. Don’t get me wrong, it was in good condition (can’t say great because the walls of many bunkers are literally crumbling), but my main problem with Arcadia is that if you take this course, put it in the middle of the state, next to the Loop or Forest Dunes...it barely makes top 10 in the state and certainly does not rate ahead of either of the aforementioned. #s 11, 12, and 13 are all that you see in pictures and there are good views down to Lake Michigan on every hole...but it’s the same view: rich green fairways, brown fescue, and water beyond. Sunset was beautiful, but the water is so far down and removed from the course, there is no immediacy like you feel at say Pebble Beach, or even Bay Harbor, and because of where it is situated along the coastline (with no peninsula jutting out) there are no real views down the coast when you are on the lakeside holes. It’s a nice course, with a good layout, but for the steep fee they charge for everything, the poor service, the aloof attitude from their team members, and the downright terrible pace of play, it unfortunately fell at the bottom of the list of courses we played over the weekend which included (by order of over quality) The Loop, Bay Harbor, Forest Dunes, and Arthur Hills.

Arcadia, I wanted you to be great, I did, but you fell woefully short of that.